Patents & SPCs
The date a medicine opens up in a market is set by its patents and by the supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) that extend them, and it is different in every country. MPA holds the product and preparation patents for medicines on the European market, with each related SPC and paediatric extension, in 32 countries, maintained from the official registers.
What it holds
- For each product and country: the basic patent and its expiry, the SPC and its expiry, and any paediatric extension, each flagged as granted or pending.
- The status as the register states it (in force, lapsed, expired, revoked), with the register reference on every record so it can be checked at source.
- The first EU marketing authorisation date alongside, because it sets the SPC term.
- For centrally authorised products, the SPC expiry calculated on the notification-date rule, with records flagged where the national register shows a different date.
- Records keyed to the molecule, so one substance can be read across all 32 countries.
- Markets
- Every EU member state plus the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
- Not included
- US patents. The dataset covers the patents and SPCs that set the date; the further patents affecting a specific product are what our expert support covers.
Patent & SPC coverage
32 countries
UK & Ireland
- GBUnited Kingdom
- IEIreland
Western Europe
- DEGermany
- FRFrance
- NLNetherlands
- BEBelgium
- LULuxembourg
- ATAustria
- CHSwitzerland
- LILiechtenstein
Nordics
- SESweden
- NONorway
- DKDenmark
- FIFinland
- ISIceland
Southern Europe
- ITItaly
- ESSpain
- PTPortugal
- GRGreece
- MTMalta
- CYCyprus
Central & Eastern Europe
- PLPoland
- CZCzechia
- SKSlovakia
- HUHungary
- SISlovenia
- HRCroatia
- RORomania
- BGBulgaria
- EEEstonia
- LVLatvia
- LTLithuania
Bold marks the six largest markets, available as the Big 6 preset in the app. Applies to the patents and SPC data; other datasets list their own markets.
Who uses it, and why
- Generics and biosimilar companiesTo time a launch market by market, allowing for SPCs and paediatric extensions.
- Originators, brand and portfolio teamsTo see their own exclusivity position, and their competitors’, across Europe.
- Parallel traders and wholesalersTo see how long a branded import window lasts, and when a generic may arrive.
- Procurement and buyersTo see which products they buy come off patent in the next one to three years, so a price change is expected rather than discovered.
- Patent attorneys and legal teamsSPC terms, corrections and lapses by country, with the register references to cite.
- Consultancies and advisersThe real exclusivity position behind the headline date, for a due diligence or a market entry study.
Questions it answers
When does protection for this molecule end in the UK, Germany, France and each other market, counting SPCs and paediatric extensions?
Is there an SPC in this country, and is it granted, pending, lapsed or never applied for?
Which products lose protection in our markets in the next few years?
How long will a parallel import opportunity last, and when could a generic arrive?
Does the register agree with the calculated SPC expiry?
How does the position in one country compare with the rest of Europe?
How it is searched
Assessing a product
- 1Search by substance, product, company or patent or SPC number.
- 2Read the position country by country: patent expiry, SPC expiry, paediatric extension and status, each with its register reference.
- 3Narrow to the countries you trade in, or to a preset group such as the six largest markets.
- 4If you also subscribe to the other datasets, read the first authorisation date and the licences for the same product alongside.
Finding opportunities
- 1Work through a whole list of products in one go: your portfolio, the lines you buy most, or a competitor’s range.
- 2Compare markets side by side to see where a product opens first and where protection lasts longest.
- 3Add demand, prices and licences from the other datasets to see whether an opening is worth taking and how crowded it already is.
- 4Ask us for a horizon view of which products open up when, across a portfolio.
Expert support, included
A register shows the record, not what it means. Which patents would actually hold, what a ruling changes, and whether a date has been corrected are what our support covers. It is included in every subscription.
What to read first
All resources- ExplainersOne product, five clocksPatent expiry, SPC expiry, paediatric extension, data exclusivity and market protection are five separate clocks on one product. They start from different events, run under different laws, and the last one to stop sets the real loss-of-exclusivity date. A one-page map, with a checklist.
- ExplainersSupplementary protection certificatesSPCs add up to five years to a pharmaceutical patent. The rule that sets the exact term is short, but the inputs are not, and the answer differs by country. A plain walk-through with worked examples, and what to check before relying on an SPC date.
- ExplainersWhy published patent-expiry lists disagree, and how to check a date yourselfSearch for any blockbuster's European patent expiry and you will find three different years. The lists are not all wrong; they are measuring different things. The six reasons they diverge, and a short procedure for getting the date that applies to your product and country.
- GlossaryWhat the fields in a patent or SPC record meanA patent register entry is a dozen dates and codes, and only two of them decide when a product opens up. Each field defined plainly, with what it is used for commercially, the status words that mean the right has gone, and the SPC fields that sit alongside.
- ExplainersPaediatric extensionsAn extra six months on an SPC, granted to originators that complete an agreed paediatric investigation plan. Small on paper, large in revenue, and a frequent surprise for generics and parallel traders who planned on the SPC date. How it works and where to look.
- ExplainersWhy the expiry date is not the launch date in Europe (and what is)A patent or SPC expiry date on a register is the start of the answer, not the end. Between it and the first generic pack on a shelf sit secondary patents, paediatric extensions, regulatory clocks, pricing procedures and litigation, and they differ by country. The steps, in order, and where each one can move the date.
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